]]>https://ritamaia.com/blog/o-que-vamos-ler-em-2019-as-receitas-dos-tradutores/feed0Multilingual Practices: Tackling Challenges and Creating Opportunitieshttps://ritamaia.com/blog/multilingual-practices-tackling-challenges-and-creating-opportunities
https://ritamaia.com/blog/multilingual-practices-tackling-challenges-and-creating-opportunities#respondWed, 14 Nov 2018 18:20:17 +0000https://ritamaia.com/?p=2131 I have recently taken a four-week course on multilingualism from the University of Groningen. The course is called Multilingual Practices: Tackling Challenges and Creating Opportunities and it is available on FutureLearn. I love learning and, being a translator, this seemed like the perfect topic to add to my CPD plan. Here’s a summary of...

I have recently taken a four-week course on multilingualism from the University of Groningen. The course is called Multilingual Practices: Tackling Challenges and Creating Opportunities and it is available on FutureLearn. I love learning and, being a translator, this seemed like the perfect topic to add to my CPD plan.

Here’s a summary of what I learned:

Week 1

The course started out with a discussion on what multilingualism might be both at societal and individual levels. Students were encouraged to reflect on and voice their opinions over the questions “Do you need to speak several languages at a high level to be a multilingual? Or is multilingualism the coexistence of different languages in one geographical space?”.

On an individual level, my understanding is that one is multilingual only if able to communicate orally and in writing in more than two languages, even if not living in a multilingual environment. A multilingual person is someone who went through formal and/or informal (daily communication with parents, family, friends, co-workers) learning. It has to do with one’s personal skills, while multilingualism on a societal level is, as François Grosjean (1982) defined it, “the co-existence of two or more languages in one society”.

The video below, from the course, shows different views on what multilingualism is to people from different cultures and nationalities.

How does multilingualism come to exist?

What causes it? Well, there are several factors which can contribute to multilingualism, among them: immigration, imperialist and colonial expansions, exchanges between border areas, or even a political union among different groups. In a multilingual society, languages have different positions and relevance within that society. There is a so-called ‘language hierarchy’ based on the status of each language, on whether they are national languages, foreign languages, immigrant minority languages, autochthonous minority languages, and on whether those languages are taught in school, for example.

At the top of a language pyramid we normally see the national language(s) of the given society. If this is not English, it is normally followed by English, which is then most probably widely taught in the education system in question.

After English, we tend to find other foreign languages commonly taught in many countries worldwide. In Portugal, I believe those would be Spanish, French, and German. The bottom positions are divided between regional minority languages and migrant languages in the given society.

It’s relevant to have a clear view of each language present in our society, as they may play a role at an educational level, a political level, and a policy level.

Week 2

The second week focused on multilingual families and how they manage multiple languages in the household.

Before starting school at age 5 or 6, the child is exposed only to the home language, or languages, in case of bilingual parents. The majority of parents don’t plan family language policy in the home, so whatever they speak is what the child learns. But for other parents, adding a second or third language to a child’s linguistic repertoire is seen as giving children an advantage. We are all aware of references to findings of linguistic research claiming some sort of cognitive advantage in bilingual and multilingual children.

In practice, parents can implement the One-parent-one-language strategy, where each parent speaks to the child in only one language, the parents’ mother tongue. The results tend to be a child who understands both languages, but speaks only one, the predominant language in their community.

Every 14 days a language goes extinct, so language maintenance in multilingual families is an important issue if we wish to keep multilingualism alive.

There are nonetheless other external factors which are of great influence for the child such as peer groups and language dynamics with other family members. As for formal education, parents have different school options (depending on where they live) but monolingual schools tend to be the most easily available and financially accessible.

Though not available for everyone, a bilingual schooling option offering instruction in both of the family’s languages is probably the most effective for raising bilingual children.

Week 3

In the third week, I found the video of a trilingual school in Friesland, The Netherlands of particular interest. This school uses Dutch, English, and Frisian as instruction languages. On top of that, they not only allow but encourage the home languages of their immigrant pupils (Polish, Arabic, and Swedish) into the classroom.

https://unsplash.com

However, languages don’t all carry the same weight on the international stage. The English language has long become a world language with currently 85% of online communication being in English, according to the University of Groningen. Linguists like Robert Philipson, who wrote the book Linguistic Imperialism in 1992, describe the influence of the English language over third world countries as a modern form of colonialism and conquest.

Some questions arise:

Does the global spread of the English language threaten local languages, cultures and identities? Is English a form of linguistic imperialism threatening multilingualism?

I personally don’t believe in something as radical as English being a threat to other languages or cultures, but this topic of the course surely gave us some food for thought.

Third language acquisition

There is a lot of talk and reading available on acquisition and maintenance of a second language. What I find most interesting however is third language acquisition. Are there differences between learning a second or a third language? Research on third language acquisition has reported differences between acquiring a second or a third language (Safont & Portoles, 2015).

https://pixabay.com

Bilingual learners have often developed learning strategies they can use when learning a new language. That gives them an advantage over monolinguals.

If we compare the experience of learning a second language to the experience of learning to drive a car, then learning a third language could be like learning to drive a bus. The experience of driving a car which involves different skills and strategies, can be extremely useful when driving another type of vehicle.

Learning a third language does not necessarily mean higher achievement when compared to learning a second language, as socio-economic and socio-educational variables can also play a role in language acquisition. Motivation is a very important factor as well.

Week 4

The fourth and last week of the course was mostly about minority languages. There are different types (subgroups) of minority languages. One example are the so-called dispersed minorities, like the Jews, which are spread around the world. There are also the localised minorities. In Europe, we find around 60 of these, all protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Well-known examples of localised minorities (also called national minorities) are the Welsh, the Basques, and the Catalans.

https://unsplash.com

Here you’ll find the website of language diversity where we can research more about any country’s minority languages.

With a total number of 196 countries recognized internationally and an estimated number of roughly 7,000 languages worldwide, it follows that a large amount of languages are minority languages in every country in which they are spoken.

Contact and borrowing

We call it borrowing when words, sounds, or grammatical elements from one language are incorporated in another language. This happens traditionally through social interaction between people from neighbouring territories. More frequently though, we witness borrowing upon the spread of languages with prestige via conquest and colonisation. Often speakers aren’t even aware a specific word is borrowed, especially when it is assimilated into the pronunciation system of their own language. The prestige of English is evident by the number of languages borrowing terms from it.

In Portuguese, we use a significant number of terms borrowed from English but also from French. Some examples of vocabulary we use daily: croissant; dossier; déjà vu; rendez-vous; chantilly; couvert; crepe (from crêpe); lingerie; réveillon.

Fun Facts

It is a well-known fact that Europe combines a significant number of official languages. The EU alone has 24 official languages. What’s interesting is that “Europe as a region features less languages than many equivalent sized regions in Asia or Africa.”

Studies conducted on the topic of the economics of language found that “[i]n the long run, losing your family language results in penalties for your annual earnings (up to $5,000).”

What about the so-called dead languages, like Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit? The term is not common in sociolinguistics. That is because these languages “gradually evolved by continuous transmission from one generation to the next and spread into regional dialects which gave rise to standardised speech forms. Latin, for example, still ‘lives’ in modern French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian.”

Much more could be said about multilingualism and the Multilingual Practices course, but this post isn’t meant to be comprehensive. If you would like to learn more on this topic, the University of Groningen has a bachelor and a master programme you can check out. If you’re interested in attending this MOOC, you can register here.

]]>https://ritamaia.com/blog/multilingual-practices-tackling-challenges-and-creating-opportunities/feed0Book review: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translatorhttps://ritamaia.com/blog/book-review-the-ultimate-guide-to-becoming-a-successful-freelance-translator
https://ritamaia.com/blog/book-review-the-ultimate-guide-to-becoming-a-successful-freelance-translator#respondWed, 03 Oct 2018 10:38:51 +0000https://ritamaia.com/?p=2089 This Summer I finally managed to read The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translator, by Oleg Semerikov and Simon Hodkinson. Written by established translators, this book is directed at those wishing to build a career as independent translators. Whether you are a language student or an in-house translator wondering how to make...

This Summer I finally managed to read The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translator, by Oleg Semerikov and Simon Hodkinson. Written by established translators, this book is directed at those wishing to build a career as independent translators. Whether you are a language student or an in-house translator wondering how to make it as a freelancer, this guide promises to “give you the best possible chance of success”. Throughout the book’s 176 pages, the authors share their knowledge and experience in the business, explaining how all of us can too have the best job in the world.

Not for everyone

Every experienced freelance translator is aware of the advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed. For the newbies, the idea of not commuting and not having a boss might sound appealing but the authors remind us of the downside of being independent. Freelancing is much less secure than working in-house, for instance. Also, social life can easily take a toll. So, before you commit, make sure to check back on your linguistic skills, on your ability to self-motivate, and your willingness to take it seriously.

Freelancing is an exciting adventure. It’s not for everyone – but for the right kind of person, it’s a dream come true!

We often hear that translators are shy and introverted. Even if that is the case for many, that can’t stop us from getting out there and marketing our services. Translators need to take active measures to be found by prospective clients. They need to convince clients they are professional. An online presence, a CV, and active marketing are just some basic items you need to tick on the list to getting started.

Relationships with clients

Having great translation skills is a must, of course, but those skills are only valuable if you have the clients to showcase them to. The authors advise translators not to disregard investment in long-term partnerships with their clients.

[P]rofessionalism extends beyond your actual translations and includes – along with many other things – the way you relate to your clients.

Here’s a summary of the main tips to keeping good relationships with clients:

Communication: be prompt to answer emails; keep it clear and concise.

Be friendly: make your clients feel at ease.

Be proactive: e.g., by flagging errors in the source text to the client.

Go above and beyond: apart from translation, can you provide additional services to the client?

Market yourself: what is your USP? A specialization, proficiency with a particular type of software? Identify what makes you unique and market it to potential and current clients.

Money matters

At times it might feel like rates are on a race to the bottom and that it is impossible to make a living out of translation. Remember that those clients only pay low prices because some translators accept to work for little. Don’t sell yourself short.

[F]ind out what the actual going rate is for someone with your language combination, skills and experience, and charge it.

Yes, it is possible that agencies pay a bit less than direct clients, but don’t let that discourage you from working with them. Agencies can be a reliable source of income as they are always in need of translations. Also, there are plenty of translation agencies out there which value high-quality translators.

Good agencies care about their clients, but they also care about working with a reliable team of translators. Make sure communication is clear from the beginning of the relationship. Lay out your expectations and let them know your rates, payment terms, etc.

How much should you charge? You don’t want to alienate clients with rates that are too high, but you don’t want to charge too low and burn yourself up only to make ends meet either. The Ultimate Guide recommends translators consider their skillset when setting rates. Are your skills rare, hard to develop, or in demand? Can you handle DTP? How many words can you translate in a day? Also, how many hours do you want to work per day or week? Do the math and have all these aspects reflected in your rates.

Be resourceful

As translators work with words, glossaries, dictionaries, and other reference materials are instrumental resources to have. Being resourceful can improve translations’ quality and speed, regardless of years of experience. Whether you’re starting out and feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks you need to carry out, or you’re experienced and believe these materials won’t do much, you shouldn’t overlook the advantages they all have in today’s fast-moving language services market. Quality glossaries, translation memories, style guides, dictionaries, thesauri, and the like help linguists be consistent, by translating key terms and phrases the same way.

And the sooner you build up resources like these, the better your results will be – and the more they’ll improve over time as you expand and add to them.

The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translator covers many other aspects of the translation business. It includes chapters on marketing, SEO for translators, different specializations (e.g., video game translation, literary translation), working as a digital nomad, a history of translation, among other topics. Overall, there is enough content in this e-book to cover all aspects of freelancing for translators. I found it particularly helpful for linguists starting out as freelancers. There is a lot of information out there, but this guide has it all packed in less than 200 pages.

]]>https://ritamaia.com/blog/o-acordo-ortografico-e-as-consoantes-mudas/feed0One of the most difficult words to translatehttps://ritamaia.com/blog/one-of-the-most-difficult-words-to-translate
https://ritamaia.com/blog/one-of-the-most-difficult-words-to-translate#respondTue, 20 Mar 2018 12:16:41 +0000http://ritamaia.com/?p=1556Every once in a while, I come across those lists of (what are supposed to be) untranslatable words in different languages. One can argue that everything can be translated but these are lists of terms without an equivalent in other languages. So, if confronted with the need to translate these words, we would either use...

Every once in a while, I come across those lists of (what are supposed to be) untranslatable words in different languages. One can argue that everything can be translated but these are lists of terms without an equivalent in other languages. So, if confronted with the need to translate these words, we would either use the term which is closest in meaning, despite not conveying it fully, or explain the term using a phrase, which could make the translation too long. But for a translator, these are not the biggest challenges we face daily, as those words tend to be uncommon.

Tu or Você?

I recently came across a TED-Ed talk called ‘One of the most difficult words to translate…’.

I found it quite interesting because it rings so true. ‘You’, a personal pronoun, is said to be one of the most difficult words to translate from English. Could this be? From my experience, yep! The thing is that the ‘you’ will require different translations depending on who is talking to whom. Is it a formal or an informal ‘you’? And what does that even mean? The French use tu or vous, depending on whether they are going for an informal or formal treatment, respectively. In Portuguese, it is similar. We treat people by tu, very informal, or você.

One can assume friends talk to each other informally. But imagine you are translating a dialogue between father and son. Is that formal or informal? The answer is, it depends on the family, as both forms of treatment are possible. Co-workers and colleagues? It depends. In theory, informal treatment shouldn’t get you in trouble, if you know the person well. However, if you have just met them or are in a strongly hierarchical environment, be careful. Some people might not be comfortable with the informal tu just after meeting someone new. You can start with a formal approach and wait until the relationship progresses and you finally hear the other person asking: Trata-me por tu. (You can call me tu.) Paying attention to how the other person addresses you and following along is also an option. Or, you can set your rules and go with what suits you best.

Opting for either tu or você is a sensitive and not always linear issue. Hierarchy, status, age, level of proximity of the relationship, expectations, among others, need to be taken into consideration.

So, if you’re ever working as a translator and come across this sentence [Do you know where the pep rally is?] without any context, (…) your job is to translate ‘you’ for yourselves.

This can be challenging for foreigners to understand. I recently worked on a multilingual project where the client specifically instructed translators to use the informal pronoun when translating their website content. They were aware that in languages such a French, Russian and others there is a distinction between formally and informally addressing a conversation partner. However, despite knowing that the English ‘you’ can have different translations in another language depending on the text, they still instructed translators to use the informal pronoun. I was both surprised and worried after reading this. The German translator immediately informed the project coordinator (who was working directly for the end-client) that he would go with the formal approach for the time being. He explained that was the appropriate approach and the project coordinator, who is Russian, didn’t hesitate on giving the thumbs up.

Phew!

This was definitely the right decision since adopting the tu form on a company’s website would be a recipe for disaster.

Drop the pronoun

Oftentimes, we don’t even use the pronouns because we don’t need to.

In languages like Romanian and Portuguese, the pronoun can be dropped from sentences because it is clearly implied by the way the verbs are conjugated.

Since verbs are conjugated differently depending not only on verb tense but on person and number, use of the pronoun can sometimes be redundant.

For example:

Are you going out tonight?

Vais sair esta noite?

OR

Tu vais sair esta noite?

Vais = second person singular, verb ir (to go), informal.

Use of the personal pronoun here is completely unnecessary. Unless… (don’t you just love exceptions?) you want to emphasize the tu. You can go with this option to show surprise that the person is going out.

The formal form would be:

Vai sair esta noite?

OR

Você vai sair esta noite?

Vai = third person singular, verb ir (to go), formal.

Vai (third person singular) instead of vais (second person singular) makes all the difference. In English, however, it is always ‘are you going’.

European Portuguese vs. Brazilian Portuguese

Now, I said we use você for the formal treatment, right? And that, if it is redundant, we can simply drop the pronoun. Well, it is not as simple as that. You see, você is the form of treatment, not exactly a term we would use, particularly in writing.

In Portugal and in European Portuguese, when translating a formal ‘you’ we never write the você. The pronoun should, therefore, be implicit. Again, we can do that by conjugating the verb in the third person singular. Writing, and even pronouncing, the você in a sentence can be considered a bit rude. Confused? Well, use of this pronoun is surely not consensual, even for native speakers.

In Brazil, use of você is much more common and widespread across the country. The tu is rarer and used mostly in the south.

Portuguese translations of ‘you’ in an eCommerce website asking clients about form of payment:

Would you like to pay with a credit card?

pt-PT: Gostaria de pagar com cartão de crédito?

pt-BR: Você gostaria de pagar com cartão de crédito?

O senhor and a senhora

If you are sure that your speech is formal, there is also the alternative senhor (sir) or senhora (madam). This is 100% formal and does not hold a negative connotation.

Would you kindly follow me?

O senhor importa-se de me acompanhar?

A senhora importa-se de me acompanhar?

Or simply:

Importa-se de me acompanhar?

This last option is particularly useful in a translation when we do not know the gender of the person the ‘you’ refers to.

Plural forms

What if you are addressing more than one person? Well, the plural form for tu is vocês, oddly enough.

You guys are crazy!

Vocês estão doidos!

When speaking to two or more people formally, you can simply drop the pronoun.

You both need a valid passport to travel.

Ambos precisam de um passaporte válido para viajar.

Another way around it is opting for the plural of senhor/senhora – os senhores / as senhoras.

Would you take some tea?

As senhoras aceitam um chá?

Legal translation

In a contract or agreement, when one of the parties is identified as You, it is not an option to omit the pronoun. In this case, nouns such as User, Buyer, Licensee, or other might be a viable translation. Você would obviously be an awful choice.

The translator needs a clear and comprehensive overview of the document from the start to be able to find the most adequate translation. Just looking the term up in a dictionary will not provide a solution.

So, you see, there is a lot to consider when translating ‘you’. If we are not aware of the purpose of a specific sentence or text, translation will not be rendered correctly. Context is, therefore, highly important.

What about you, dear reader? Which words have you found to be the most difficult to translate?

]]>https://ritamaia.com/blog/palavra-do-ano-2017/feed0Looking back… and into the futurehttps://ritamaia.com/blog/looking-back-and-into-future
https://ritamaia.com/blog/looking-back-and-into-future#respondWed, 27 Dec 2017 10:05:29 +0000http://ritamaia.com/?p=1522 Since I began running my own translation business, I have always found this time of year quite exciting. The last week of the calendar year is a good time to go back and look at what went well, maybe even beyond our best expectations, and what we failed to achieve. I wrote a bit...

Since I began running my own translation business, I have always found this time of year quite exciting. The last week of the calendar year is a good time to go back and look at what went well, maybe even beyond our best expectations, and what we failed to achieve. I wrote a bit about my expectations for this year in my ‘On Plans, Wishes and Resolutions for 2017’ post.

2017 was a great year. It included regular work with old and new clients and meeting colleagues face-to-face at the BP17 conference in Budapest, and later in Lisbon. I also managed to improve my translation, revision and language skills with classroom and online CPD courses. No year can go by without some CPD, right? In March, I completed the Working with Translation MOOC course. Developed by the Cardiff University, this 4-week course is a good reminder of those translation studies classes in college. As a bonus, the forum is super active with dozens (maybe hundreds?) of students around the world commenting on topics related to translation.

Now with 2018 almost here I have started thinking about what I wish to accomplish in 12 months to come. My focus will continue to be translation and revision work, but I am also going to take time to complete production of an online course I have been working on for a few months. I really hoped to be able to complete it this year, but I just couldn’t find the time. Anyway, I have taken quite a few e-learning courses and strongly believe in learning from the comfort of one’s home. So, delivering my own course is really an experience I am looking forward to in 2018.

Professional Development

Being passionate about learning, I don’t hesitate to enrol in a new course that interests me every chance I get. In 2018 I will continue to invest in my French apprentissage. I am curious about foreign languages in general but, having learned French in high school for years, I decided to take up classes. Over the years, I ended up forgetting a lot of the grammar and vocabulary. I guess speaking languages is not like riding a bike. You will forget if you don’t practice. Language learning is time-consuming though. You don’t become fluent overnight but, for me, the effort is well worth it.

There are also a few conferences that interest me taking place next year. There’s the BP18 Translation Conference in April. This year it will take place in Vienna, Austria. I really enjoyed BP17 this year (I wrote about it here and here) so I wouldn’t mind attending next year as well. In May, APTRAD’s 2nd conference will take place once again in Porto, Portugal. Being an APTRAD member and living in Portugal, this is one conference I really don’t want to miss. Then, in October, there is the METM (Mediterranean Editors and Translators Meeting) in Girona, Spain. I have never attended a MET conference but have heard wonderful feedback from colleagues who have. Maybe 2018 is the year to experience it. These are just a few examples of translation conferences. There are plenty more taking place in 2018 around the world.

I feel excited about the new year and confident that it will be another great one. What about you, dear colleagues, what are your plans and hopes for 2018?

]]>https://ritamaia.com/blog/looking-back-and-into-future/feed0False Friends in English and Portuguese – Part IIIhttps://ritamaia.com/blog/false-friends-english-portuguese-part-iii
https://ritamaia.com/blog/false-friends-english-portuguese-part-iii#respondWed, 15 Nov 2017 15:32:36 +0000http://ritamaia.com/?p=1487This is the third and last part of a list I created with the most common false friends between English and Portuguese. These pairs of words and their meanings show that the word which resembles the most in spelling and pronunciation in another language is not always the right match in terms of translation. The...

This is the third and last part of a list I created with the most common false friends between English and Portuguese. These pairs of words and their meanings show that the word which resembles the most in spelling and pronunciation in another language is not always the right match in terms of translation. The list is organised by alphabetical order. You can read or reread the first and second parts here.

PRETEND – PRETENDER

Pretend translates as fingir, while pretender is used when we mean to say intend or mean. In Portuguese, desejar or ter a intenção.

She was jumping with joy at the news. – Ela pulava de alegria com a notícia.

PUSH – PUXAR

For the Portuguese speakers, even if fluent in English, there tends to be some hesitation when faced with a door with a sign that reads “Push”. Should we puxar or empurrar? Instinctively, it seems to make sense to puxar, since both words are similar, but puxar actually means to pull. Confusing?

Could you please push the closet to the right? – Importas-te de empurrar o armário para a direita?

Languages are always very rich and complex elements that identify a nation. For this reason, it takes a really long time for one to become fluent in a foreign language. What looks obvious can either be wrong or just not the best option. Even with our mother tongue, it is important to keep studying it and look for answers to our doubts. But it is in this complexity and richness that lies its beauty.